Principal authority in the world on tartans and Highland dress. Established in 1963 on the initiative of the senior law officer on protocol and precedence in Scotland, the Lord Lyon King of Arms, Sir Thomas Innes of Learney.

The aim of the Ulster-Scots Agency is to promote the study, conservation, development and use of Ulster-Scots as a living language, to encourage and develop the full range of its attendant culture; and to promote an understanding of the history of the Ulster-Scots.

From 1896 to 1936, 7,000 Scottish children went to Canada through William Quarriers's Orphan Homes of Scotland, arriving in Belleville (Marchmont Home) and later Brockville (Fairknowe Home) before being sent to work on Ontario farms or as household help.